Resist mediocrity.

This was the catchphrase of Patrick Larkin (1956-2019) whose last contribution to Facebook, on August 5, was an admonition on gun control. Three weeks later, in the dawn hours, Patrick, 63, in his non-mediocre prime of life, was cowardly set upon by a gun-wielding neighbor with a vendetta, and–in a single instant–leveled.

Guns are for cowards.

I say this as a soldier who specialized in gun violence, from everything from dinky 5.56mm cartridges that you could carry by the hundreds, to 105mm shells weighing 100lbs a piece, that you cradled in your arms one at a time.

Guns are for cowards.

I say this as a soldier who slept with guns, who cradled guns like infants, who oiled guns in his sleep.

Guns are for cowards.

A mediocre Fixed Heeler is locked up in jail today, and a legendary Free Heeler has been lost to us, due to a senseless proliferation of guns, permitted to flood from the battlefield into every nook and cranny and crevice of our domestic lives.

Guns are for cowards.

Never stop speaking out against mediocrity, against cowardice, against injustice, against madness, stupidity, and moral turpitude.

Thank you for your example, Patrick Larkin.

Thank you for your grace and beauty in the mountains above.

And for staring rottenness in the face without flinching in the valleys below.

Even as we mourn your death, so too do we celebrate your life.

Resist mediocrity.

Alex ‘Tele Mon’ Limkin

Captain, U.S. Army, Retired

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